


You're in my mind when I'm asleep.

by teikoku_shoujo



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Though some spoilers for Chapter 7 are mentioned briefly, takes place in chapter 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:46:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27117697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teikoku_shoujo/pseuds/teikoku_shoujo
Summary: Nia and Pyra share a room at the inn in Fonsa Myma.
Relationships: Homura | Pyra/Nia
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	You're in my mind when I'm asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> There needs to be more Nyra content. I've been drawing a lot of it, but I wanted to write fic too!

Nia always appreciated whenever a lull in their travels allowed the group to stay at an inn. Of course, she wasn’t the type to turn her nose up when they had to set up a camp. Before joining Torna, Nia had spent plenty of time on the run; which was just plenty of time on the road. That experience was what led to her current discomfort. It was hard to dissociate camping out with the feeling of being hunted down, even when she had new traveling companions now. Even as she relaxed against Dromarch’s fur and watched Pyra start their campfire, there was always a nagging fear that soldiers would emerge from the bushes. Their weapons already primed to catch the fiendish cannibal Blade.

So yeah. Inns were nice.

Another bonus was when the group had enough spare gold to get separate rooms. Dromarch would regularly insist he didn’t need a bed as long as Nia herself had one, but she liked knowing he could sleep on one whenever he stayed with the other guys. Pyra and Poppi were easy people to rest around too.

Technically Poppi didn’t need sleep. The first time Nia asked her about it, she got a fairly long explanation about how it was an energy saving mode that simply mimicked sleep. She supposed that was pretty convenient. It probably helped Poppi feel like a regular Blade too. Nia would consider complimenting Tora on adding the feature, but she didn’t want to give the guy an even bigger ego.

While her roommates for the evening got themselves settled in their room, Nia slipped away into their bathroom to change. Her nightgown had a high enough collar that her core crystal was hidden. Sure, she could probably hide that feature just by turning away from them or asking for a bit of privacy but… better safe than sorry. Nia wasn’t even sure if either of them would make a big deal about it. As the Aegis, Pyra certainly seemed to have a lot going on. Poppi might not even know what a Flesh Eater was. The idea of them abandoning her seemed impossible, but it had already happened once with Jin and everyone else-

Nia sighed and stared at herself in the mirror. Dammit. She just came in here to change and now she was getting emotional over nothing.

“Nia, you okay in there?” Pyra’s voice came from the other side of the door.

“Huh? Oh, yeah! I’ll be right out!” Nia called back. Pyra sounded far enough away that Nia could assume she wasn’t standing right at the door.

When she actually stepped out, Nia saw Poppi ‘sleeping’ on one of the beds. Pyra was sitting on the edge of her bed. A small book was in her lap, but clearly she had stopped going through it when she called out to Nia. Nia had left all her belongings on the bed closest to the window. She liked having an emergency exit, and that habit was hard to unlearn.

“Your nightgown is cute,” Pyra said.

Nia blinked. She was still partially distracted by her thoughts that it took a moment to fully process the compliment, no matter how simple it was. Though if she didn’t respond that would be horribly awkward.

“Ah, thanks.” Nia nodded and laid down on her bed, immediately getting her arms around a pillow. Pyra seemed to chuckle at the light ‘thwump’ as Nia landed as haphazardly as one could on a bed. In response, Nia ended up burying her face slightly into the pillow. Was it to hide a blush? She’d never tell.

A pleasant quiet eventually settled over the room. Nia really wasn’t that tired, but she wasn’t sure if Pyra was. She planned on turning off the ether lamp once Pyra showed any signs of getting ready for bed.

Nia kept adjusting herself on the bed, going from curling herself around the pillows to just laying on top of them. Nothing really felt right. Whenever she did so, she’d sneak a quick glance over at Pyra. The Aegis seemed content enough with her book. Well, if neither of them were going to get to bed anytime soon, Nia wouldn’t mind talking to Pyra a bit more. She’d actually like that a bit more than she planned on letting on.

“So, whatcha reading?” Nia had left herself stomach down on the bed, elbows propping herself up, and facing Pyra.

“I picked up a recipe book.” Pyra closed the book and turned it around to show Nia the cover. She had left her thumb between the pages so as to not lose her place. There was a small smile on her face, and Nia couldn’t help but grin slightly herself.

“Local ones? I haven’t tried a lot of Urayan food myself. It must be pretty good. You’ve had your nose buried in it ever since we got these rooms,” Nia chuckled, but she immediately wanted to hurry and make sure Pyra didn’t take that the wrong way. Sure, making jabs wasn’t unusual for Nia, but they were always in good fun. Pyra enjoyed cooking, and she was damn good at it too.

Pyra returned the laugh, and that gave Nia some immediate relief.

“I figured I should learn more about what I can cook when we’re back on the road. Picking up new things never hurts.”

“Are there any recipes for seafood in there?” Nia hadn’t been shy about her favorite food, but it probably wouldn’t be that hard to guess.

“I… actually haven’t seen any in here, sorry-” Pyra spoke up again before Nia even had the chance to voice any potential disappointment, “But I could grill some fish for you tomorrow. I saw a nice selection down at the market today, actually.”

While the offer was tempting, Nia shook her head. “Oh, you don’t have to spoil me Pyra. You’re free to try out whatever recipes are in that book. In exchange, I’ll test them out for you.”

“Well that sounds like a decent deal.” Pyra didn’t go back to reading right away though. She seemed to be slightly amused as she watched Nia turn around and adjust herself around the pillows.

“Is something the matter?”

Nia grunted slightly as she rearranged herself once more to face Pyra. She really couldn’t explain why she was this antsy. Sure, she might have thought too much about her past earlier, but that usually didn’t keep her up.

“Uh, no. I think this pillow is just too hard for me to get comfortable,” she thought up a lie on the spot.

“Do you want to use some of mine?” Nia should have known that Pyra would immediately make an offer like that.

“I think I’d have a harder time sleeping, knowing I stole your pillows.” The next words that came out of Nia’s mouth were supposed to be a joke, but she didn’t think too hard about them until they were already said:

“It’d probably be more comfortable to rest my head on your lap-” The moment Nia said those words, she genuinely contemplated jumping out of that window. She practically jolted up into an upright sitting position.

“I m-mean, just… these pillows feel like there’s rocks stuffed in them or something!” Nia laughed and patted her hand on the pillow a bit aggressively for emphasis. If the window didn’t work out, she could do the more reasonable thing and just go sleep in the other room with Dromarch.

Pyra still hadn’t said anything, and that just made Nia even more nervous.

“Sure, you can.”

“Huh?”

“Did you… not want to?”

Nia stared at Pyra from her bed like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. It didn’t seem like Pyra was joking. She genuinely couldn’t tell if saying yes was the best option.

“I mean, if you’re offering…” Nia scratched behind her head, eyes darting between Pyra and a lamp on the wall that now seemed very interesting. Her gaze finally settled on Pyra once she scooted back on the bed slightly and set her book aside on the nightstand. Nia wanted to convince herself she was dreaming as Pyra lightly patted one hand on her own lap. That was clearly her invitation, so Nia left her pillow behind as she moved to Pyra’s bed.

Well.

Her guess was right. This was definitely better than the inn’s pillows.

Though Nia could hardly relax. Her heart was probably racing. She had her eyes closed and left her hands resting on her own stomach. The last thing she wanted to do was somehow mess this up. There was another long silence between the two of them, but this one felt a bit more tense. Though it’s possible that Nia was just imagining that. She heard a soft click, and it seemed like Pyra had reached over to turn off the lamps.

Nia slowly opened her eyes and was greeted with the soft green glow of Pyra’s armor and core crystal. Their eyes met. Pyra was looking back down at Nia with a hint of curious amusement.

“Better than the pillow?”

“Uh… yeah. Definitely.”

Maybe Nia could fully relax and enjoy this if she wasn’t swimming in thoughts and afraid Pyra might hear her heartbeat. Trying to downplay Pyra’s attractiveness would just be a boldfaced lie. Nia was relieved the lights were off, since it’d be harder for anyone to see the blush on her face. From the sea of overwhelming thoughts, Nia tried to find a new topic for them to talk about. It’d be awkward to just lay here in silence.

“Pyra, do you sleep in your armor?” That question seemed fairly relevant. If Pyra had anything she wanted to change into, now would be the time. It wasn’t that uncommon for Blades to have clothes if they wanted to change things up.

“I do, actually. Any reason you asked?”

“Not really, just curious. It seems like… it might be a little uncomfortable though, with all those straps and stuff.”

“I guess I just got used to it. I did wear it for 500 years, after all.”

Nia knew that Blades sometimes slightly differed in appearance whenever they were awakened. One could end up with a different hairstyle or outfit when paired with a new Driver. Blades could also change how they looked at will, too. Nia was familiar with that herself, but she didn’t mind picking out clothes for herself either.

“Would you ever want to try anything else? Especially if you’ve been wearing the same look for so long. It’d be nice, having something to relax in.”

She could make out some subtle changes in Pyra’s expression, genuine thoughtfulness in response to Nia’s question.

“Maybe.” The slight smile was audible in her voice, “Is there anything you recommend?”

“It’s hard to go wrong with most pjs, really. I like anything that’s comfortable.”

Pyra seemed to nod. Their conversation winded down a bit after that. Nia was fairly tired and could have very easily fallen asleep right then and there. Though every time it seemed like she was about to drift off, she suddenly remembered she was resting in Pyra’s lap and nearly jolted up in embarrassment. This was… dangerous, to say the least.

Also, she didn’t want to force Pyra to fall asleep sitting up.

“...Pyra,” Nia spoke in a whisper. “Are you up?”

The response came quickly, “I am.”

“I’m going to go back to my bed, now.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Well- I just thought you’d want to lay down and get some sleep.”

There was a pause.

“We could share the bed. It’s big enough.”

Nia was convinced that she must have already fallen asleep. She had to be dreaming. It was too dark in the room to fully make out Pyra’s expression and tell if she was joking or not.

“How about…” She tried to choose her words very carefully, “How about we share the bed after you grab some pjs? I wouldn’t want your armor poking me while I sleep-” Nia turned it into a joke, gently laughing it off as she sat up.

“Is that a promise?”

Titans. What were they doing? What was she doing? Nia felt giddy and stupid at the same time. Was she reading into this too much? Was Pyra intentionally flirting with her? It was too late to think about all this.

Nia nodded. She wasn’t sure if Pyra could make it out in the dark.

\--

They met up with everyone in the inn’s lobby the next morning. Pyra had woken up early to see if there was a kitchen guests could use. Nia got up late, groggily processing the events of the previous night. She also kept giving nervous glances to Poppi, wondering if she could overhear them while she slept.

The last thing Nia needed was for that exchange to get innocently parroted to someone else without the context. Would the context really make it any better, though? Nia audibly groaned as she tried to work out her thoughts, and it caught the attention of Dromarch.

“Is everything alright, My Lady?” His voice was comforting, like always.

Nia knew she could always confide in him but was hesitant due to everything else going on. The stakes kept getting higher and higher, wouldn’t it be silly to mention her potentially having a crush on the girl they were trying to escort.

“I’m fine. Just… remembered some lame pun Rex made about salvaging-”

Though, Rex overheard her excuse and immediately chimed in:

“Hey- you always laugh at those!”

Nia sighed and shrugged with her usual grin, “That’s just so I don’t hurt your feelings.”

Rex almost looked wounded. Nia couldn’t help but chuckle as Tora tried to convince Rex that his jokes were very cool. Soon enough though, the two of them were explaining different kinds of wordplay to Poppi, who responded to each answer with another question.

Around them, Nia could hardly stay in a funk for very long. Butterflies returned to her stomach when Pyra finally joined them, but she knew it was nothing to worry about.

After breakfast, they were starting to make their plans for the rest of the day. Fonsa Myma was a big city. Even though their destination was already decided on, meeting Vandham’s friend, there were plenty of other distractions to sink their teeth into. Rex and Tora also had a bad habit of listening to troubles and requests of every other passerby.

Naturally, Rex would cite the Salvager’s code, while Tora assumed idolizing Rex would improve his Driver capabilities.

Nia listened to them list out all the requests they had picked up in a slight daze. Slightly flustered or not, she still didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. Depending on what they decided on, she might take a quick cat nap. She barely even registered Pyra walking over to her and Dromarch, saying something to her Blade before stopping in front of Nia.

“Dromarch, is it alright if I borrow Nia for a bit?” Pyra lightly put her arm around Nia’s. She wasn’t speaking that loudly, but it got the attention of Rex and Tora too. “Rex, I hope it’s alright if I spend the day with Nia.”

Nia blinked.

Rex scratched behind his head before nodding. “That’s fine. With this one job we have, we probably won’t need to do any fighting.”

Pyra smiled, “That’s perfect, then!”

“What are you two getting up to, though?”

“Tora want to know, too!” The nopon waved his arms in curiosity while Poppi mimicked his movements.

Nia thought of interjecting. She’d also love to know what Pyra had planned for them.

“We’re just going to do some quick shopping. There’s a new recipe I want to try out… and Nia is going to help me pick out a pair of pajamas.”

Oh.

Oh wow.

She glanced up at Pyra, who returned her look with a smile.

“If… that’s alright with you, Nia. I don’t want to impose.”

“No, no. Totally fine with me. Let’s get going. Don’t want the market to get too crowded-”

The two of them left the inn, with Pyra’s arm still wrapped around Nia’s. When they were gone, Poppi spoke up first:

“Poppi think Nia and Pyra make great couple!”

Tora immediately cut in, “P-Poppi must mean they make great friends! Or great partners! Not couple!”

She tilted her head to the side, “What is difference?”

The nopon desperately looked up at Rex, asking for some kind of assistance. Rex put a hand to his chin before chuckling.

“Ah, well… maybe Poppi is right after all.”

Poppi put her hands on her hips proudly. The world’s best artificial Blade was never wrong, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I love Nyra a lot, and I plan on writing more for them in the future!


End file.
